A Bayonne man who jumped onto the Journal Square PATH tracks to rescue a woman who fell into the path of a train was awarded $25,000 last week as a winner of the Russ Berrie Award for Making a Difference.

“I honestly feel like I just did what needed to be done,” James Baber, 24, of 36th Street, said regarding the Oct. 4 rescue of the 72-year-old woman.

Baber said when he entered the PATH station he saw the woman lying on the tracks and she was moaning and bleeding from the head.

“I realized the train was coming in. I was standing right above her and no one could have gotten to her except me,” Baber said. “I jumped down and boosted her up and a man on the platform helped lift her.”

The Russell Berrie Foundation called Baber “a law clerk by day and a super hero by night.”

“Although passengers were waiving their arms to get the conductor’s attention, it was Baber who jumped onto Track 3 and pulled the woman to safety before the train reached the station,” according to the Russell Berrie Foundation

Baber was one of 12 recipients of the Making a Difference awards, which were given out last week at an event at Ramapo College in Mahwah. Baber was among three finalists for the $50,000 grand prize.

Regina Coyle of Little Ferry was the top winner. As leader of the St. Margaret of Cortona Church Parish Council, and a Certified Emergency Response Team volunteer, Coyle organized the parish hall to become an emergency shelter as Superstorm Sandy approached.

In 1963, Russell Bernie started his company, which manufactured plush stuffed animals and toys and gifts and had sales of more than $294 million in 2001. In 1998, Fortune Magazine called him one of the 40 most generous Americans. Berrie died in 2002.

“Russ wanted to create an award specifically for unsung heroes people who really make a difference by dedicating their lives to improving life or helping others,” Russell Berrie Foundation President Angelica Berrie states.

Baber said he was informed of his nomination earlier this month and said: “I was really flattered and quite humbled.”

Baber was born and raised in Bayonne. He graduated from St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City in 2006, went on to attend the University of San Francisco and is now in his second year of law school at Seton Hall University in Newark. Baber is the son of Hudson County Superior Court Judge Mark Baber and his wife Marguerite, who is the founder of the Bayonne-based Simpson Baber Foundation for the Autistic, an organization dedicated to educating the public about autism.